Afksendiyos Kalangos was born in 1960 in Istanbul. He completed his secondary education at Saint-Benoit French college between 1970 and 1978. He studied medicine at Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical School and graduated in 1984. He later completed his specialization in cardiovascular surgery at “Professor Siyami Ersek Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Training and Research Hospital” in 1991. He then went on to be trained more in heart valve surgery by Alain Carpentier in Paris between 1991-1993 and in congenital heart surgery by Yves Lecompte between 2000-2001.
In 1993, he started working at Geneva University Hospital, where he became the Chairman of the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery in 2001 and Director of the Cardiovascular Centre in 2011 and served at this institution until the end of 2015. He was nominated associate and then a full professor at the University of Geneva. He obtained a diploma in assist devices and artificial heart from the University Hospitals of Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris in 1998 and a “mini MBA in the management of health institutions” from the University of Geneva in 2000. He was appointed as visiting professor at the Universities of Verona (Italy), Belgrade (Serbia) and Yinchuan (China). He has been awarded the degree of “Doctor Honoris Causa” in Medicine by the University of Thrace (Turkey) and the degree of honorary Doctor of Sciences by the University of Mauritius.
Between 2016 and 2019, he served as Chairman of the Department of Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Surgery at Mitera Hospital. Since 2019 he has served as Director of the Center of congenital heart and tracheal diseases at Iaso Children’s Hospital in Athens, Greece. He also serves as a Professor of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery at Koc University Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey.
In 1998, Dr Kalangos founded the charity association “Coeurs Pour Tous (Hearts for All)” in 2002, the “Kalangos foundation” in Geneva, and in 2011 he co-founded the “Global Heart Network Foundation” in Delaware, USA. Traveling across the globe with his voluntary medical team, he provides specific cardiac medical care to children and training facilities to health professionals of low and middle-income countries to build sustainable programs in cardiac surgery. Founded by Dr Kalangos in 2003, the “Global Forum on Humanitarian Medicine in Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery” (GFHM) aims to share global expertise in humanitarian cardiovascular medicine by bringing together experts from different parts of the globe, every two years in Athens. Recently, Dr Kalangos launched the “Journal of Humanitarian Cardiovascular Medicine” as the official journal of the GFHM. He is currently the editor in-chief of the journal. He was also a former member of the editorial board of the “World Journal of pediatric and congenital cardiac surgery”.
Dr Kalangos was honored by many organizations, such as Red Cross, Unicef Greece, Rotary International, Lions Club, Prix Galien, and Argo Awards, for his humanitarian achievements. Serbia and Lebanon conferred upon him their highest national distinction of Commander, Mauritius, that of Officer, for his outstanding contributions to the development of pediatric cardiovascular medicine. The patriarchal distinctions of Commander of the Order of Saint Andrew and that of the Order of Saint Sava were also conferred upon him for his humanitarian work.
He owns many intellectual patents on cardiac surgical devices and biodegradable materials. Dr Kalangos developed the first biodegradable ring (Kalangos Ring) accessible for clinical use, dedicated to correcting the dilated annulus of mitral and tricuspid heart valves. This ring preserves the growth potential of these valves in children by inducing the creation of autologous fibrous tissue.
Dr Kalangos has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles in journals with editorial policy and more than 15 book chapters. He is one of three co-editors (with Dr Kirali and Coselli) of the textbook entitled “Cardiopulmonary bypass, Advances in extracorporeal life support» published by Elsevier in 2022. He was assigned as thesis director to more than thirty MD, PhD and DSc students. He was invited more than 200 times as a guest speaker at international and national scientific meetings. He is a member of several international and national societies. He was the past president of the “World Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons” (2014-2015) and the current treasurer of the same Society. He is currently the general secretary of the Hellenic Society of Pediatric Cardiology.